Death, the sound of the word is enough to send shivers
down our spine. Few enlightened souls are not afraid of this reality but for
ordinary human beings like me, death is something which is tragic and it is all
about tears to me. No one wants to die. And yet, death is the destination that
we all share. The question which comes up is that are you afraid of dying or
are you afraid to see your loved ones go before you?
It happened. 3rd October, 2014. My
grandfather left this world. I went numb as things went by. As the ashes of his
body went up in the sky, my memories came back. I had returned from Mumbai to
be on time for his funeral and it is was a painful journey. It was like as if
someone had opened chambers of past. Time went by, we all moved on in our
respective lives and now it is close to one year to that day but still, I tend
to reminisce a lot about my childhood in which he played a crucial part in
shaping my knowledge about stock markets.
That brings me to my dilemma about death, Am I afraid
of dying or am I afraid to see my loved ones go before me. I shudder to think
what will happen to me if I am at the receiving end of losing the people whom I
loved dearly all through my life. It would be dreadful. I surely don’t wish to
lose them in front of me but then I don’t want to be someone who is insecure
about living without people. Because for life moves on irrespective of whether
a person has his family by his side or not.
But to look at the other side, am I afraid of the
reality of the life? Frankly I don’t know. At 23, you don’t think about life
and death; you just go through the motions. But, somewhere deep in my heart I
understand that life moves on, no matter how hard it seems. We all find a way
to hang on to some threads which keep us moving. This is a reality which we
(including me) have to embrace in life. Every person who is born is destined to
leave as well. Some leave early which is very depressing but we need to take
the fight and emerge as winners and not merely survivors.
Many times, I have been told that it is better to
forget the people who are no more alive in this world. I still don’t get that. Because
you find peace when you let go of your emotions and accept the reality.
Forgetting is temporary but acceptance is permanent. It is this acceptance of
the reality which has made me stronger during various times of my life. I
believe it will work for you as well. Don’t try to forget but accept the
reality about any untimely demise of a loved one and move on as soon as
possible. Pick up the pieces of your life and do your best.
